How to fish swimbaits

Fishing for bass, and other species, with swimbaits is becoming increasingly popular. Fishing with large swimbaits has become one of the most popular methods of catching very big aggressive bass especially during the spawning season.

Choosing a swimbait
Swimbaits vary greatly is sizes, colors and design. You can find tiny shad, crappie, and bluegill imitations to huge 12" trout swimbaits that will run very deep. Just like the fly fishing saying it is best to "match the hatch" and choose a swimbait that resembles what the bass are feeding on at the time. For really big bass during spawning try a large trout swimbait.

When to fish swimbaits?
Simbaits can be fish all throughout the year with some success, but they seem to be very popular between January and May in the pre and post spawn.

How to fish swimbaits?
Fish swimbaits around structure and when during spawning near spawning areas. Top areas include main lake and secondary points, along deep or inside grass lines, and along creek channels running through spawning flats.

When fishing around wood cover, run your lure into stumps and through laydowns, pausing momentarily after making contact with the cover. Most bass will hit either on the pause or once the bait starts up again. In grass, make sure you’re getting your bait deep enough to tick the top of the grass. When your lure starts to snag, give it a sharp snap. Many of your bites will come as the swimbait rips free. (thanks to lakeforkguidetrips.com for this info)

As with all forms of fishing experimentation is the key. Work likely areas until you discover a pattern and replicate your success.

Rigging a swimbait
This video shows the basic rigging method, but there are many variations. You local tackle shop should be able to show you all the variants of this method.

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Knots and Rigs - Texas Rig

I remember rigging my first soft plastic bait. After 3 failed attempts I had a soft plastic bait that looked more like something drained from the oil rather than a well presented bait. It almost ended my association with soft plastics then and there, but I persisted helped by some great videos that anglers have posted on the web. Here is one such video - Introducing the Texas rig.



The Texas rig is usually fished by throwing the soft plastic as close to cover as possible with the goal of placing the worm as close to a bass as possible. Try to let the lure enter the water with as little noise as possible and keep some controlled slack in the line as bass will commonly attack the lure while it is sinking to the bottom.

If the bass does not hit on the fall, let the worm rest on the bottom for a brief period and then begin to retrieve the lure in a very slow, jerk and pause motion. Be careful to always keep a little tension on the line because learning this technique is a lot about learning to differentiate between the feel of the bottom and the feel of a fish. (wikipedia)

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